Mini Vacation

Last week we took a little vacation to visit family and friends. We left a week ago Friday to go to Kansas City, Missouri where we met my brother and his wife and their 6 month old, who we hadn't seen. My brother lives in St. Louis and we thought we would meet them there and go to a Kansas City Royals baseball game. My parents and my brother already had plans to go to the baseball game, so we decided to mee them there. The game was fun. The kids had fun and did well. After the ball game, they had a spectacular fireworks show. It was definitely worth staying for.

On Saturday we left Kansas City and went down to a small town in South Central Missouri (West Plains) to see some college friends. We stayed there for a couple of days. They have a 4 1/2 yr old girl and a 1 1/2 yr. old boy. Camdyn and Jayna played great together. On Tuesday we left West Plains and drove to Springfield to see my grandma. As you can see in one of the pictures, the kids crashed once we got to her house. We had a nice visit with her and some good cooking! On Wednesday we headed back home, where we are still trying to recover from lack of sleep.

Kiddos

You would think after almost three months of new baby, that the newness would go away. Not so much. Almost every morning that is the first thing they ask for "Where is baby Collin?" Anytime Collin is on the floor or on the couch, they are right there in his face. He is one loved boy!

Wall - still in progress

A couple of weeks ago Craig rented a tractor to help the wall building process go quicker. He made some good progress until he ran out of gravel and dirt. He had several good helpers. Camdyn and Carter helped part of the day as you can see in the pictures. Camdyn enjoyed riding in the tractor with Craig until he dumped dirt on both of them. Alex, my brother-in-law, came over and helped too. Thanks Alex! Hopefully one more day with the tractor and it will be mostly done.

Carter's hat

Every time we go outside to play, Carter always finds his favorite hat to wear!

Craig's Project

One of Craig's big projects is to build our retaining wall himself. He started at the beginning of the month, trying to to get a good start before his Dad came. He got the first couple of rows complete before his parents arrived. This week Craig and his dad completed another level, along with lots of shoveling gravel for back fill. Craig is now waiting for more stones to come, before he can continue. Thanks Bruce for all your help!

Collin's 1st Smile

Collin was just over 5 weeks when he smiled for the 1st time. He had just woke up and I sat down with him. He looked right at me and gave me a big smile. It was so unexpected, I nearly cried. I love seeing his big smile everyday!

Collin - 1 month

Here are some pictures of Collin during his 1st month of life. He is now almost 7 weeks. So he has changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. At one month he weighed 11 lbs. 11 oz. - chunky like his brother and sister. He has been a great baby for us. By the end of the 1st month he was sleeping 6 hours at night. Camdyn and Carter still can't get enough of him.

Camdyn's 4th Birthday

We haven't been able to access our internet for the past 10 days. Here are some pictures of Camdyn's 4th Birthday! We had a backyard water party. For her cake, we dipped some ice cream bowls in white chocolate and decorated them with sprinkles. We stacked them and put candles on top. Camdyn had a great time! Her expression while we sang Happy Birthday was great! She didn't know what to think of all these people singing to her. Thanks to Kerri for some great pictures!

Fun Picture

Cousin Hunter Visits

Last weekend my sister and her family from Colorado came to visit us. They have a 2 1/2 yr. old and a 6 month old - Hunter and Briley. Camdyn and Carter had so much fun with them. All of the cousins were together except for my brother's baby, Chase, who is 4 months old.